Nigeria to plant 20 billion trees for environmental sustainability - Shettima
Cand environmental sustainability efforts.
Shettima disclosed this on Saturday after touring several agricultural and industrial sites in Ethiopia. His visit included stops at Adama Dairy Farms, Luke Avocado Nursery, Shera Dibandiba Mojo Family Integrated Farm, Biyyo Poultry Farm, and Bishoftu Pea Farm.
The visit coincided with the launch of Ethiopia’s Green Legacy Initiative, which the Vice President described as a model programme that successfully combines environmental restoration with job creation.
“We intend to plant 20 billion trees in the next rainy season,” Shettima said. “It requires a lot of planning, energy and drive, which Ethiopia was able to galvanise its population into doing.”
He noted that the Ethiopian model offers valuable lessons for Nigeria and Africa more broadly, calling Ethiopia “the pathfinder” for the continent’s renaissance.
Shettima praised Ethiopia’s strides in wheat production, stating that the country had gone from importing \$1 billion worth of wheat annually to becoming an exporter to neighbouring countries like Djibouti and Kenya.
“If Nigeria and Ethiopia work, Africa will work. Jointly, the two of us constitute over 350 million people—more than the population of the United States. We have to make these two countries work harmoniously for the betterment of our continent,” he said.
The Vice President also highlighted the significance of bilateral cooperation between Nigeria and Ethiopia in agriculture and industry.
Kingsley Uzoma, Senior Special Assistant to the President on Agribusiness and Productivity Enhancement, described the visit as important and said it reflected President Bola Tinubu’s interest in replicating Ethiopia’s agricultural transformation model.
“President Tinubu has a whole lot of respect for the people of Ethiopia. Why we came here is to understudy what we have seen and report back to him,” Uzoma said.
He added that the Nigerian government is working to diversify the economy by boosting agricultural exports such as avocado, pineapple, mango, cashew, and cocoa.
